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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28422240">Love Cares Not For Time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anarchyinplasma/pseuds/Anarchyinplasma'>Anarchyinplasma</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>K/DA - A Collection [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>League of Legends</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>10k words in 2 days oh god my hands, Alternate Universe - K/DA (League of Legends), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I Love You All, It's Finally Done, enjoy, no beta we die like your inting teammates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:53:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,132</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28422240</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anarchyinplasma/pseuds/Anarchyinplasma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The day Ahri turns ten and achieves her human form, her parents tell her she’ll be travelling the world.</p>
<p>In a world where the first words your soulmate says to you appear on your skin, sometimes quite a while before you'll meet them, people have to learn the virtue of patience.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ahri/Kai'Sa (League of Legends), Akali/Evelynn (League of Legends)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>K/DA - A Collection [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>175</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love Cares Not For Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoneHavocFex/gifts">GoneHavocFex</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aka0kami/gifts">Aka0kami</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanteemo/gifts">hanteemo</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Oh my LORD this took a lot out of me. God. Damn.</p>
<p>Enjoy it lads &amp; lasses.</p>
<p>My hands need a break.</p>
<p>I love all of you.</p>
<p>To my best friends, Fex and Akaokami, who are the best help I could wish for, and for Fudgey, who isn't on AO3 but I value you immeasurably just the same, and for hanteemo, who has done wonders for me in so many respects.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The day Ahri turns ten and achieves her human form, her parents tell her she’ll be travelling the world.</p>
<p>“This is no language we know.” The village elder says, in her coming of age ceremony, the same small event that happens every time a young gumiho turns ten.<br/>(It was Eunhye’s yesterday and Ahri was so jealous that her best friend was a day older and got to see her mark first that she barely remembers the ceremony. But she tries to focus on the elder’s words today.)<br/>“No language known?” Her mother says and Ahri feels a pang of hopelessness in her stomach.<br/>(She’s seen the other guimho who have a mark like hers, sent out into the wilderness of the world to search for their love and bring them home, be it in one year or a thousand.)<br/>“I’m sure you’ll find them soon enough.” The bass rumble of her father’s voice passes through her chest as his large hand rests comfortingly on her little shoulder, and Ahri wonders in the back of her child’s mind if he’s saying it to reassure her or her mother. “I have faith in you, my kit.”</p>
<p>And Ahri thinks nothing of it then, despite her early magic singing faintly in discontent in her veins; simply nuzzling her head into her father’s palm and then spending the rest of her birthday playing with her friends, like Eunhye.</p>
<p>The next day, when her mother sets her down and teaches Ahri to use her soul-sight to detect the ever-faint wisps of Void energy swimming within the marked portion of her tiny soul, she takes the lesson at face value and nothing more.</p>
<p>Five years later, when Eunhye reveals that Ahri is her soulmate, showing her clearly her own writing in between sobs and fits of tears, Ahri can only hold the girl and whisper soft apologies about something she could never control.</p>
<p>Because not everybody’s soulmate is reciprocal.</p>
<p>They move past it, in the village. When Ahri turns thirty she bids goodbye to her people, her only known way of life, and the girl whose soul she could never hope to repay.</p>
<p>She runs down the mountain with tears prickling in her eyes and doesn’t return for a century.</p>
<p>A hundred years later she returns to celebrate the anniversary of her parent’s wedding and to reunite with her family. She’s kept in touch of course, though scrying magic and occasionally running into other gumiho, but she’s still grateful to be home and see everyone she knows again.</p>
<p>Eunhye meets her at the gates and Ahri is overjoyed to see that her friend’s soul has changed, from uniform to a mottled, overlapped material that signifies she’s bonded with someone. Even despite their bond, she’s found someone she can spend her life with and be happy.<br/>(That’s not on the cards for herself, Ahri knows, she has to find her soulmate before she even knows what kind they are, and that could take her a thousand years.)<br/>Still, she spends a very enjoyable night or two with Eunhye and her new partner, and by the time she leaves Ahri is a hundred percent certain that her soulmate will at very least be a girl.</p>
<p>She has a heart attack when she’s jumped in an alley ten years later, by nothing but a writhing mass of shadows that screams for pain in her mortal and supernatural senses. As metal cold like glacial run-off pins her to a wall and a voice dripping with curated venom purrs at her.<br/>“You’re an interesting creature, is this your strange language?” A ribbon of black tar slides across her view with a bright magnesium white soulmark etched into it.</p>
<p>Ahri squints and cocks her head.<br/>“Looks sort of like it.” She shoves the creature away roughly and bares her arm. “This yours?”<br/>“Hmmm.” Hums the mass of whip-sharp shadows in front of her, coalescing into a smoky demon with a female form and orange eyes that gleam like a wicked star. “No, I don’t believe it is.” A pair of fangs snap for her neck and meet Ahri’s magical barrier with octarine sparks.<br/>“I can gut you, demon.” She warns, tails flaring as and her own fangs bared as her magic seethes.<br/>“Curious that you know what I am.” The daemonette replies, taking on a full shape. “I think I’ll keep you.”</p>
<p>And that’s how Ahri meets Evelynn.</p>
<p>It’s two hundred years before she drops her guard with the demon, enough to tell her the important things, enough even to show her to her home, where the base tenants of her harsh, guttural demon language are dutifully inscribed in the gumiho database, as a long lived people they collect and prize all knowledge of languages yet to come or otherwise unknown, and Evelynn, as she’s come to be known, actually manages to comport herself with grace and decorum, being welcomed as an honoured guest.</p>
<p>It’s been three hundred and thirty years since Ahri left home for the first time to find the speaker of her mark, and while she may have made a friend, she’s no closer than she started.</p>
<p>It’s another ten years before she learns Evelynn’s secret.</p>
<p>“I am a direct spawn of Lilith.” The daemonette tells her one night, as they make camp in a forest clearing and watch the night-sky, populated with a billion tiny pin-pricks of glittering light. “Great things are expected of my line, I was slated to be agony mistress for one of the most renowned courts in all hell.” Her lasher materialises, bearing the burning magnesium white of her soulmate mark. “Then this, and I was cast unto the world above, to find my human or other such creature and drag them back to my palace in the underscape.” She looks almost forlorn. “No demon has ever had a mark before. We don’t have souls.”<br/>“Maybe you’ll develop one.” Ahri postulates, before she receives a glare of such ferocity that she backtracks immediately with hands upheld. “Or maybe your soulmate will have enough soul for you both.”</p>
<p>The daemonette’s lashers cocoon themselves around her and if Ahri didn’t know better she’d say Evelynn was trying to give herself a hug.<br/>“Maybe.” The response is subdued, tinged with equal parts hope and melancholy. “Maybe...”</p>
<p>The centuries drag on, Ahri and her inseparable demon sidekick get themselves into innumerable scrapes and adventures, slaying a mad dragon, ruling a small nation, carpentry, they’ve done it all, but the lure of travel calls to them both at all times by necessity; they still don’t even know their languages. Ahri has a moment of excitement when she comes across latin, before realising that her language is a severe offshoot of the alphabet.</p>
<p>As the first millennium draws to a close and they home in on the year one thousand Ahri returns home to her people with Evelynn in tow. Determined to ring in the next thousand years in gumiho style.<br/>(In the end, she gets heroically plastered and joins Eunhye and her now-wife again for a month or two.)<br/>Evelynn spends her time teaching people to speak lillim and hunting, but Ahri knows better than to suggest she’s changed, not now at least.</p>
<p>The two of them leave to keep wandering the world soon enough, wandering through Asia to Japan at the turn of the thirteen hundreds to avoid the outbreak of plague in Europe. Evelynn finds a second wind in Japan, busily comparing her language to everything in sight.<br/>(But while they find some similarities it’s apparent to Ahri, whose culture is heavily based on this, that her words are a much later form of the language, and when Evelynn finally agrees with a heavy heart they agree to avoid Japan for a while.)</p>
<p>Eventually the latter half the of the millennium arrives, and the two of them separate for a while as wars rage across the world, Evelynn revelling in the agony of millions while Ahri and most other gumiho wandering afar return home, spending a comfortable seventy years in understandable isolation until she emerges into late nineteen nineties South Korea with her eyes set on the burgeoning Kpop industry she’s been watching flourish from afar.</p>
<p>She sets herself up with some funds accrued from her two thousand years of travel in a few discreet bank accounts managed by some not-so-mortal folks and sets about with three tasks. Number one, find out about any new languages, number two, find Evelynn, and number three, build herself a career as an idol.</p>
<p>Top of her list is a mysterious little language called Afrikaans that became official in about nineteen twenty five. The use of the accents and small offshoots from the latin alphabet Ahri committed to memory so long ago matches the words blazing on her arm almost too well, so she sets off for there first, taking some time to get accustomed to the new world around her; the gumiho aren’t totally isolated but hearing second hand about mysterious new trinkets from the land beyond is different from being involved in the living and breathing world.</p>
<p>She picks up her chosen language in South Africa and finally learns what her words say after two thousand years.<br/>“Hello, It’s an honour to finally meet the famous Ahri.”<br/>“You must be close to me now.” She whispers to empty air one night from the balcony of her hotel. “You <em>must.</em>”<br/>(She buries the thought that it could take another thousand years, the universe has no right to do this to her. Not again.)</p>
<p>After spending a couple of months mulling over her words' meanings, she heads back to Korea.  Time to get started on item three on the list. Number two, she has faith, will find her in due time.</p>
<p>Getting her idol career off the ground isn’t too hard, Ahri even takes time to attend a year of high-school on a whim, a little test to see how much humankind has progressed; and between her natural charisma and a little magical charm she’s soon the biggest rising star in Korea’s music industry. That leads to a knock at her door at three in the AM when Ahri lets Evelynn back into her life and then it’s off to the races.</p>
<p>Evelynn soon gains herself a reputation, a diva who struts into the music industry like she owns the place and gets label executives and other talent either plotting to murder her or eating right out of her hand; and Ahri has to admire the balancing act. Until the missing male celebrities scandal rears its head and Evelynn’s <em>spectacular</em> confidence is for the first time in recent memory her undoing.</p>
<p>She slinks out of the scene by necessity, a dark figure ghost writing songs for pop-starlets and racking up numerous shadow awards for her talent but never allowed to present her artistry to the world. And Ahri knows it chafes at her friend. So she decides to make a few calls.</p>
<p>The impetus for properly starting K/DA comes in about two thousand and sixteen, as Ahri, on break after dropping a project, stumbles upon the hidden talent that is Akali.</p>
<p>Cameras have never captured multiple layers of reality well, the sensors don’t pick up the realm of souls, but even though digital photography Ahri can tell that the young Japanese rapper has the distinct carriage of <em>something</em> non-human buried in her soul, and her talent speaks for itself.<br/>(Slowly, Ahri begins to wonder if now might be the time to persuade her old friend to give Japan another shot, perhaps this new group could present an opportunity to both travel the world and give the diva back her most prized spotlight.)</p>
<p>When Evelynn shoots down her first proposal, still hurt over how much of her heart she invested in Japan a few hundred years ago, Ahri does the next best thing and flies Akali first class to a surprise meeting at her house under the guise of an interview.<br/>(She does wonder if this is <em>strictly</em> a good idea when she notices during a video chat that Akali’s room is wall-papered in Evelynn posters, but decides not to mention it.)</p>
<p>Evelynn is livid when Ahri opens the door to reveal her, and whirls on her heel before Akali’s confused shout of<br/>“Wait, you didn’t tell me Evelynn was on this project too, oh God I’m so sorry I screwed up already.” Stops the succubus dead in her tracks like nothing ever has before.<br/>“Say that again.” She commands, iron-hard; turning back to the bewildered rapper.<br/>“I- Uh-...” Akali’s Blue Screen of Death look is fascinating to Ahri as an outside observer, but Evelynn’s lasher swiftly whips across her face and showcases the burning white writing in full view.<br/>“Is. This. Yours.” She growls, and Akali’s eyes go wide before she nods frantically, then shakes her head.<br/>“Yes-but no I can’t it can’t be mine I don’t have a-.” She sinks to her knees and curls into a ball, all sense of comporting herself forgotten, as Evelynn taps her foot impatiently.<br/>“What.”<br/>(Ahri goes to intervene, but stills at the slightly wild look in Evelynn’s eyes.)</p>
<p>“I don’t have a soulmate.” Akali weeps. “I don’t have a mark, it might be my writing but it can’t be me, no matter what kind of woman you are.”</p>
<p>(This world, Ahri remembers abruptly, has fair knowledge about the less reclusive supernatural peoples who once dwelled in mountains in fear, but some, such as demons, have never been known.)</p>
<p>“Enough for both of you.” She says warmly, stepping smoothly out of the room, a meaningful glance at Evelynn telling her to look at Akali’s soul properly before she steps out to get them all a nice hot drink.</p>
<p>She returns from her kitchen with nice hot tea, finding the two deep in conversation on her settee and cuddling up to each-other like all new soulmates Ahri has seen over the years, desperate to maintain that feeling of connection they’ve been lacking for so long.<br/>“Was I right then Eve?” She asks sarcastically, getting a half-hearted flick to the nose from a lasher in response.<br/>“You were right.” The daemonette grumbles petulantly, returning her attention to Akali almost immediately.</p>
<p>Ahri sighs, figures that there’s no way she gets passable conversation out of these two for at least the next two hours, and gives them the run of the place while she goes out to handle an errand or two.<br/>(She’s wandering around town for the next four hours, feet carrying her wherever they may as she wonders if she’ll ever get to experience that look of sheer contentment that Evelynn displayed so happily.)</p>
<p>When she gets back from her walk with some token bags in hand containing mainly small groceries and a few presents to congratulate Akali and Evelynn with, Ahri is happily surprised to find that they’re simply watching youtube videos on Akali’s phone, rather than invading her bed.</p>
<p>It’s as she’s digging around in her bags to find the jewellery box that contains the matching bracelets she bought the pair on a whim that she hears what they’re watching.<br/>“Is that a dance studio?” She asks, leaning over the back of the settee and trying to catch a clearer glimpse.<br/>“Yeah, this dancer I follow from South Africa.” Says Akali. “Only Eve said you were looking for a dancer for the group and I was thinking on a whim I like her stuff.<br/>“What’s her name?” Ahri asks, barely keeping her voice level while the words “it’s an honour to finally meet the famous Ahri” ring in her head like cloister bells.</p>
<p>“She’s called Kai’sa.” Evelynn purrs with a grin, like she just <em>knows</em> what’s in Ahri’s head despite never being told.<br/>(The two percent of Ahri’s brain not currently consumed by blind hope realises she probably does because her mental blocks are rubble right now and Evelynn can literally taste her emotions.)<br/>But the succubus is still speaking and Ahri tunes back in with a start.<br/>“What did you say?”<br/>“I said,” Evelynn repeats as her eyes roll like a pair of sarcastic stars, “that you’ll love her because she’s Void Touched.”</p>
<p>Ahri blinks. Once. Twice. Thrice as the words slowly process in her brain. Then throws on her coat, grabs her phone, and sprints from the house like her tail is on fire.</p>
<p>“She’s in a hurry.” Akali remarks, watching as Ahri’s car screeches out of the driveway towards the airport.<br/>“She’s been waiting a long time.” Evelynn muses with a gentle kiss to her soulmate’s nose.<br/>“She thinks it’s her soulmate?” Akali asks. “Isn’t it a bit much to go on with ‘South African and Void Touched’?”<br/>“Not for her.” Evelynn murmurs, capturing Akali’s lips in a slow deliberate kiss. “Now, she’s left us all alone in this house with free reign, and I think it would be a crying shame not to show my soulmate a few of the things I’ve picked up over the past two thousand years.”<br/>“Please don’t make it sound like I’m going to be bedded by an old lady.” Akali begs half-heartedly, only to have a pair of ice-cold claws suddenly grasp her jaw in a vice grip.</p>
<p>“You are my soulmate.” Evelynn says in a deathly quiet tone. “But if you ever call me old again, I will gut you and hang that gorgeous dragon tattoo on my wall. Understood?”</p>
<p>Akali’s only response is a quiet “meep” before she is suddenly taken to bed.</p>
<p>Ahri meanwhile is throwing her car-keys to the valet parking attendant like they’re a live grenade and sprinting into the airport as fast as she can in high heels to catch a flight that she booked thirty seconds ago and takes off in just under ten minutes.</p>
<p>The girl on check-in is quite clearly trying to flirt with her for an autograph but Ahri has so little time for that sort of thing that she sprints off in the middle of the poor girl’s sentence, the words on her arm still the only thing she can consciously process. When an airport official intercepts her by the gate she almost calls on her long dormant magic to turn him to ash until the words “Miss Evelynn called ahead and made arrangements.” Penetrate the mad haze covering her brain and she allows herself to be led away to where Evelynn’s private jet is waiting to carry her to her potential soulmate.<br/>(Part of Ahri’s brain is glad for the chance to slow down, relax, and compose herself before a meeting she’s yet to arrange, the other part fears that once she stops, the fact that she’s running halfway around the world on a half-baked whim and a barely-remembered memory from over two thousand years ago will convince her to talk herself out of this.)</p>
<p>A quick text from Evelynn informs her that she’s called ahead and Kai’sa will be waiting for her, and Ahri profusely thanks her old friend for thinking ahead for her in this situation.<br/>(When Ahri considers that this is in fact Evelynn being nice, she wonders what amount of teasing she’ll be in for on her return.)</p>
<p>Four hours into her sixteen hour flight, after Ahri’s brain has emptied it’s entire stock of serotonin into her body with all the grace and care of a dumper truck and she’s had time to adjust to that, a thought strikes her and she picks up the phone.</p>
<p>It connects after a few rings and the deep reassuring baritone of her father issues through the speaker.<br/>“Hello. Who is this?”<br/>“It’s me.” Ahri says with a tiny sniffle. “Hey Dad.”<br/>“Ahri!” Her father’s deep voice that rumbles like a landslide soothes her raw nerves like no other thing ever could. “How are you doing my little kit?”<br/>“I’m okay now Dad.” the gumiho relaxes onto the bed in the back of the cabin.<br/>(Distantly, a part of her decides that she will ignore that this is a bed that belongs to Evelynn.)<br/>“It’s only been twenty years since we last saw you hasn’t it?” Her father’s voice carries a note of uncertainty and Ahri giggles.<br/>“You’re not that old already are you Dad? Can’t remember when you saw me last?”<br/>“I’m only four thousand and twelve.” He rumbles and Ahri laughs again.<br/>“Yes it’s only been twenty years, I just wanted to call because.” She pauses and hums indecisively. “I think I’m finally getting close.”</p>
<p>Her father summons her mother from the kitchen, and they spend the next few hours chatting about every development she’s made in tracking down her soulmate.<br/>(The part of Ahri’s brain not devoted to the conversation is grateful the gumiho community was convinced to modernise so easily, keeping a magical call going with a still bowl of water at thirty-eight thousand feet would have been a <em>right</em> pain in the tail-base.)</p>
<p>Eventually the conversation draws to a close and Ahri decides the pragmatic option would be to get herself some sleep. She’s a big gumiho, she can take care of herself before meeting her potential soulmate.</p>
<p>Twenty minutes after shedding most of her clothes finds her in bed on her phone perusing every single video Kai’sa has ever uploaded onto the internet.<br/>“Please tell me it’s you.” She whispers into the dark, staring at the words on her arm in the harsh white light of her phone screen displaying Kai’sa’s dizzying grace and dexterity. “Please God tell me it’s you and I don’t have to search anymore.”</p>
<p>Just as the lack of sleep is catching up with her severely overstressed brain and she’s content to nap for a while, the pilot signals forty minutes to Johannesburg and Ahri almost screams in frustration, levering herself out of the bed and back into her clothes instead and trudging off the plane into the solid wave of heat that midday in a South African airport provides.</p>
<p>With a whispered spell and folding her coat over her arm to distract from any obvious glimmer of her magic the heat becomes bearable and Ahri speeds through the airport as fast as she can, checking her phone for the address as she heads outside to the taxi stand and hails a cab.</p>
<p>Not even the mad free-for-all combat arena of inner-city South African driving can keep Ahri awake completely and she lightly dozes through the journey, stumbling out of the car in front of Kai’sa’s dance studio as her heels clatter on the cracked sun-beaten pavement and she pays her cab fair.</p>
<p>The small wooden door seems imposing as Ahri stands there, dressed in the height of casual Seoul fashion and having flown halfway around the world on the back of a <em>strong hunch at best.</em><br/>“Excuse me? Are you okay out there? Would you like to come in?”<br/>(Ahri nearly jumps out of her skin while simultaneously having a heart attack because <em>those aren’t her words</em> when her brain catches up with her eyes and she realises the woman who spoke isn’t Kai’sa.)<br/>“Yes, please, thank you.” She steps across the threshold and into the building, thanking the girl again as her coat is placed on the stand.<br/>“Miss Kai’sa will be down shortly, I gather you’re anxious to see her?”</p>
<p>It dawns on Ahri that she probably looks like a sleep-deprived maniac, having flown sixteen hours in fashionable clothing with the bare minimum of make-up to see this woman who may or may not be her soulmate.<br/>“Yes, I suppose I am.” She laughs, sinking into a guest chair as anxiety sinks it’s claws into her heart.</p>
<p>She sits there for what feels like hours, but in reality is only about five minutes when she hears feet descending a narrow wooden staircase and the door cracks open.<br/>“Hello? It’s an honour to finally meet the famous Ahri.”</p>
<p>The gumiho in question nearly cries, launching up from her seat and pulling her sleeve up before she goes all woozy from standing up too fast.<br/>“Are you okay?” Kai’sa appears at her side to help her sit down again with a worried expression and Ahri smiles despite the discomfort as her enhanced nose takes in the woman’s comforting scent.<br/>“Is this yours?!” She asks. Shoving her arm somewhat desperately in her saviours face.<br/>“I- Um, yes.” Kai’sa sounds utterly confused before realisation creeps across her face and Ahri grins, endorphins banishing her exhaustion.<br/>“Is this yours!?” She asks in reply, showcasing Ahri’s messy Korean scribbles decorating her forearm.</p>
<p>“Oh thank the Gods.” Ahri moans, enveloping Kai’sa in her embrace. “Do you have <em>any idea</em> how long I’ve been looking for you.”<br/>“I look forward to hearing about it.” Kai’sa says warmly and the very sound of her gentle voice feels like a river of soothing honey for Ahri’s worn-out soul.<br/>“I’ll tell you all about it.” She promises, exhaustion hitting her in a rush.<br/>“I can’t wait.” Kai’sa says, sounding concerned. “Don’t take this the wrong way but, you look sort of wrecked.”<br/>“Do I?” Ahri murmurs deliriously. “I guess that’s cause I flew sixteen hours nonstop.”</p>
<p>With a deep sigh, Kai’sa suddenly hefts Ahri into her arms and carries her delicately up the staircase.<br/>“You’re strooong~.” Ahri giggles, more loopy than an aerial combat display team as she pokes playfully at Kai’sa’s exposed biceps.<br/>“You’re sleep deprived.” Kai’sa counters, weaving through doorways to gently place Ahri on her bed. “Come on soulmate. Sleepy-time.”<br/>“I like the sound of that.” Ahri giggles sleepily as her eyelids drift closed. “Soulmate.”</p>
<p>When Ahri wakes up, groaning and blinking at the light, a swift hand presses her back down into the mattress and the lights flicker off with a sharp audible click.<br/>“Good evening.” Kai’sa’s warm voice permeates Ahri’s brain like a balm that soothes her pounding headache almost instantly.<br/>“Hi.” The gumiho croaks, nuzzling into the hand on her head with soft purrs while giggles emit from the woman next to her.<br/>“I’m the luckiest girl in the world.” Kai’sa mumbles, before she colours dramatically. “Did I say that out loud?”<br/>“Yes.” Ahri laughs good naturedly and takes hold of her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles chivalrously. “Yes you did.”</p>
<p>“Here I was excited to get an interview to give you dance lessons.” Kai’sa laughs, and Ahri is captivated by how beautiful she looks in the half light, sculpted cheekbones and sharp jawline kissed majestically by trails of thin waifish illumination in her supernatural vision.<br/>“Eve told you it was dance lessons?” Ahri asks. “I was going to ask you to join the group as a member even if you weren’t my soulmate.”<br/>“Whaa-...” Kai’sa blanks completely and Ahri snickers.<br/>“You’re too cute.” She whispers, pressing another kiss to the knuckles still held near her lips.<br/>“I must be dreaming.” Kai’sa murmurs, so Ahri pinches her arm and dissolves into laughter at the surprised squeak she gets in response.</p>
<p>“You’re not dreaming.” She dead-pans, sitting up in bed with her head still slightly swimming as a glass of water is hurriedly pressed into her hand.<br/>“Drink up.” Kai’sa orders and Ahri obediently gulps down some refreshing liquid. Then she lays back down, and after a second’s consideration, pulls Kai’sa into bed with her.</p>
<p>The other woman squeaks in surprise as she’s pulled into Ahri’s arms.<br/>“Ah!” She slaps at Ahri’s shoulder weakly. “I still have things to do today you know.”<br/>“As your new soulmate.” Ahri purrs, nuzzling her head under Kai’sa’s chin. “I demand your attention.”<br/>“Is this going to be a running theme?” Kai’sa asks, a wry smile painting her face as she respositions herself and drags the covers more comfortably over them both.<br/>“It might.” Ahri acknowledges, shifting downwards and pressing a furry ear over Kai’sa’s heart.<br/>“Don’t we-” Kai’sa starts but Ahri shushes her with a gentle finger to her lips.<br/>“Shh, I want to listen to your heart.”<br/>“Why?” Kai’sa whispers.<br/>“Know you’re real.” Ahri whispers back with a goofy smile as she closes her eyes and listens to the reassuring thud of Kai’sa’s vital organ beneath her hearing.</p>
<p>Kai’sa gives her a few minutes of gentle cuddling and then very gently reaches for Ahri’s phone.<br/>“You have a hundred plus texts.” She reads off the lock-screen, nonplussed.<br/>“Hm?” Ahri looks up at her, ears poking the duvet away from her head inches away from Kai’sa’s face and the dancer melts into a small puddle at the sight.<br/>“You’re popular.” Kai’sa says, showing Ahri the screen.<br/>“Ah.” The gumiho curses and grabs the phone from her hand. “I forgot about the return flight.”<br/>“You have to leave?” Kai’sa murmurs into the crown of her head. Ahri’s ears flicker in disagreement.<br/>“It’s just the flight crew wanting to know when they need to prep for us. Most of the texts are from...” She scrolls through the list until she hits a hundred variations of funny selfies and questions on how it’s going from Akali. “Akali, apparently.”</p>
<p>She moves herself up and tucks herself directly below Kai’sa’s chin, ears like furry goalposts sticking up on either side of her new soulmate’s cheeks as she scrolls through the photos for them both to see.<br/>“You’re collaborating with Akali and Evelynn?!” Kai’sa sounds excited and Ahri giggles.<br/>“Not collaborating silly, new group remember, we wanted you to join as well.”<br/>“Me!? I’m just a dance teacher.”<br/>“You’re perfect.” Ahri corrects the surprised outburst, ears flicking comfortingly along Kai’sa’s cheeks.</p>
<p>“Do I really have a choice in this?” Kai’sa asks and Ahri nods decisively.<br/>“Of course you have a choice, I’ll even leave you alone if you decide we’re platonic. Although based on this bond…” She wiggles her hips against Kai’sa’s under the blankets and feels the other woman heat up with a blush behind her.<br/>“We’re certainly not platonic,” Kai’sa purrs into one fox ear and Ahri gets shivers; “and I suppose this is a good opportunity to expand my career into a field I’ve always dreamed about.”<br/>“That’s the spirit!” Ahri chirps, firing off a quick text to the flight crew to have the plane ready in six or seven hours. “Now. We have a bonding to complete and celebrate.” She turns in Kai’sa’s arms and places a gentle kiss to her lips.<br/>“So we do.” Kai’sa sounds remarkably confident as she whispers the words in Ahri’s ear and the gumiho smiles as she’s flipped onto her back.</p>
<p>Thoughts of the plane, the flight crew, or her new music group are <em>very</em> far from Ahri’s mind for the next five hours.</p>
<p>Eventually, as she lays there enjoying the warmth of Kai’sa’s finely honed form and pressing kisses to her jaw and neck, Ahri’s phone rings and she remembers the people who should probably be updated on this situation.<br/>“I forgot about my parents!” She exclaims and Kai’sa raises a slightly fearful eyebrow.<br/>“Your… parents?” She eyes Ahri’s ears and then the form of the two or three active tails resting against her beneath the blankets. “I thought gumiho were foxes who lived a thousand years per tail.”<br/>“Where did you get that from?”  Ahri giggles. “I have a mum and dad like most other people.” She finally answers the ringing phone and settles herself back down on top of Kai’sa. </p>
<p>“Hey Dad! Do I have some good news for you!”</p>
<p>Two hours later Kai’sa bids farewell for now to her studio, entwines her fingers with Ahri’s, and summons a taxi to drive them both to the airport. Then once they’ve arrived and she’s pried Ahri’s white-knuckled-in-fear grip off her arm and her soulmate’s claws out of the car’s upholstery, Ahri has a chance to introduce her to the lifestyle.</p>
<p>Kai’sa nearly trips over her own feet when she’s led on board the extravagantly fitted private jet, complete with bed, television, a sitting room, and a load of other features Ahri was in too much of a rush to appreciate the first go around.<br/>“Is this yours?” She asks, drawing in on herself and seeming afraid to touch anything inside the cabin lest she inflict damage.<br/>“It’s Eve’s” Ahri answers, taking hold of both of Kai’sa’s hands and coaxing her out of her fearful, drawn-in-on-herself pose. “I was going to fly public but she made arrangements for me.<br/>“That’s thoughtful.” Kai’sa says. “She seems nice.”<br/>“When you meet her,” Ahri says with a giggle, “don’t ever say that to her face, but yes.”</p>
<p>They spend the flight relaxing with a few episodes of a K-drama, getting to know each-other, and when they’re an hour from landing at Incheon Ahri has a sudden thought.<br/>“I forgot to ask, do you speak Korean?”<br/>“We’ve been watching the show in Korean with no subtitles.” Kai’sa dead-pans and Ahri’s ears flatten to her head in embarrassment.<br/>“Oh. I don’t know how I didn’t realise that.”<br/>Kai’sa giggles and gives scritches to the base of an ear, a move she’d very swiftly learned made Ahri purr like a broken motor.<br/>“Incidentally.” She points to the TV. “Having ‘My Soulmate is a Gumiho’ as the only choice for in-flight streaming? Not very subtle.”</p>
<p>Ahri blushes more red than a traffic light and Kai’sa giggles with laughter all the way into landing as her gumiho buries herself in her shirt.</p>
<p>The next few months flash by in a blur of getting everything ready for K/DA to become reality, which includes helping Kai’sa and Akali to emigrate to Korea full time and picking a group house. But on top of that there’s contracts and shopping around for producers and studio time and writing songs and a hundred other little niggles that consume Ahri’s time like a leviathan swallowing a rowboat.</p>
<p>But as if she needed any more evidence that she’d picked the right girls to start a group with, the others seamlessly pick up the pieces they need to. Once they’ve moved into the house Ahri couldn’t be more proud of her soulmate, the way Kai’sa cooks for them every meal and takes care of everyone in the group, all while spending hours everyday in their home studio to craft spell-binding choreography. The way Evelynn immediately gets to work crafting a song that she’s confident will blast them to the top of the charts, all while working with Akali to integrate their rap parts and craft multiple video proposals to submit.</p>
<p>But most of all, Ahri doesn’t think she could cope if Kai’sa wasn’t there to crawl into bed with at the end of every long, long day, wrapping them both in a furry forest of tails as she drifts to sleep with the comforting beat of Kai’sa’s heart a constant companion to soothe her aching head. But it doesn’t stop there. On weekdays Kai’sa will be out of bed before her, having already done a full yoga routine and made a start on breakfast by the time Ahri and Evelynn are even awake enough to think about rolling out of bed and shuffling to the kitchen and Akali is busy drying herself off in the shower. On the weekends Kai’sa will wake Ahri up with a series of gentle kisses, insist on a lighter workload that day, and then run them both a nice warm shower before they get on with their respective tasks.</p>
<p>Every single morning Ahri will attempt to convey her sheer love and adoration with flowery language.<br/>“I love you Kai-kai~.” Tumbling out of her mouth in a miss-aligned clatter of sounds.<br/>“I love you too foxy.” Is always the response, sometimes with a kiss to the corner of the mouth or forehead and almost always with a scritch behind the ear.</p>
<p>When Pop/Stars eventually releases, early in November on Ahri’s two thousand and sixteenth year on earth, she finally gets to set down her contracts, forms, pens and laptops and take a nice, deep breath.<br/>“Our tours are booked!” She announces, sweeping into the lounge and pinning paper to the noticeboard.<br/>“When?” Akali calls over, eyes fixed on her Guitar-hero duel vs Kai’sa.<br/>“We start next March.” Ahri says happily. “So there is plenty of time for Christmas, and then a nice strong start to the year.”<br/>“Hooray!” Akali cheers with a fistpump, before Kai’sa nearly overtakes her in score and she returns her fingers to the buttons with a fountain of expletives.</p>
<p>That Christmas is one of the best Ahri has ever had in her life, and after a New Year’s trip to take her soulmate to her home and meet her parents, introducing her to their clan as her soulmate and where Kai’sa charms her entire extended family in a single meal, K/DA as a group put their noses back to the grindstone and get to work on multiple tours worth of set-lists and choreography.</p>
<p>The tour flies by on gilded wings, received by hordes of screaming loyal fans in every arena and ending on a sold-out show to a crowd of thousands, with an encore that teases their upcoming single the girls are riding high.</p>
<p>Then it’s time to get to work on their new project.</p>
<p>The single isn’t hard, that’s already mostly produced and ready to be shipped out after a few tweaks that Akali and Yasuo will be finalising themselves with no oversight from her. Ahri trusts her bandmates.</p>
<p>But when Kai’sa announces she wants to travel the world for a bit, for inspiration; Ahri feels the creeping ice-water of worry drip down her spinal column. Because she can’t go with her soulmate as she travels the world, away from Ahri’s protective gaze and her immediate embrace. But she knows this is something the love of her life desperately wants to do, so she keeps her mouth shut, kisses Kai’sa good-bye at the airport, and drives home feeling like she’s going to shatter into a thousand pieces of glass.</p>
<p>The first night isn’t so bad. She gets black-out drunk with Eve and Akali to celebrate the latter’s start of her project with True Damage, so she doesn’t even think about Kai’sa until she wakes up the next morning and instinctively reaches for her soulmate, only to feel empty in a way she hasn’t since before she found out what her words even mean.</p>
<p>Pain and longing sharp like a dagger lodges itself in Ahri’s chest and twists, and it’s only her room being so far away from the other two that means they don’t come running to her aid at the quite literally soul-rending scream of anguish that tears itself from her throat laced with latent reactive magic as her lower brain grips hold of her power in self defense. Ahri curls herself into a ball and sobs, the connection that once felt so vibrant in her soul when Kai’sa was close now feels strained, muted. Like a lead weight on her very being. Tears stain her cheeks, her tails pull Kai’sa’s pillow into her arms and Ahri takes a deep breath of the comforting scent of earthen petrichor, but that only starts off a fresh round of tears, when she realises that she won’t see Kai’sa in person, potentially for months.</p>
<p>The knock at her door a while later is a reminder that she’s not the only one in the house who can see the realm of souls.<br/>“I thought this might happen.” Evelynn mutters as she strides in, perching on the edge of the bed and resting a clawed hand on Ahri’s shoulder.<br/>“Does everyone hurt like this Eve?” The gumiho begs, tear-stained face tilting ever so slightly in her direction.</p>
<p>The succubus shakes her head sadly.<br/>“Only gumiho and other such creatures.” She runs her claws gently around Ahri’s ears, stroking her like she would a spooked cat. “The downside of magic, being more connected to your soul than anyone else.”<br/>“Guess that’s why you’re going with Akali.” Ahri sniffles, taking a deep breath and trying to keep her heart-rate slow and even. Evelynn shakes her head.<br/>“I’m not going with Akali darling, I’m… well, let’s just say the less you know the better.”<br/>“Returning home?” Ahri asks, swallowing hard as another wave of anguish threatens to spill over and break her white-knuckled grip of control over her magic.<br/>“Perhaps.” Evelynn allows, giving her a faint scritch behind the ear before she stands. “I’ll get you some tea darling.” She says, leaving the room quickly and sauntering down the hall.</p>
<p>It’s at this point that Ahri remembers that she’s Eunhye’s non-reciprocal soulmate and she almost throws up before dialing her oldest friend’s phone number to apologise for even existing.</p>
<p>Once the other gumiho has talked her down from the metaphorical ledge, Ahri takes the rest of her advice on board, meditation, an activity to distract the mind, and placing a few temporary blocks on her magic. This does have the downside of making her revert to her natural form, fully tailed and dark-haired, but by the time Evelynn has come back with some tea Ahri feels less like she’s inches from death.</p>
<p>“Thank you Evie.” She says gratefully when she’s handed a cup of tea, savouring the warmth blooming in her chest like molten bronze filling a mold. Even if it is a little difficult to drink with her natural fangs.<br/>“Feeling a little better I see?” The daemonette asks, taking a seat on the edge of the bed again and nursing her own cup of hot sweet tea.<br/>“Yeah.” Ahri nods gratefully. “I called someone, got some tips on dealing with it.”<br/>“I see.” Evelynn takes a sip and pats Ahri’s crossed legs affectionately. “I’m sure Kai’sa would come home if you asked her to you know.”</p>
<p>Just the thought of her soulmate threatens Ahri’s already precarious control of her magic but she resists, taking a deep centering breath and another deep draught of her tea.<br/>“I won’t ruin her trip.” She insists, ears flat against her head. “We’ll have video chats.” Evelynn raises an eyebrow skeptical but Ahri plows on insistently. “I waited two thousand years, five months won’t kill me.”<br/>“I hope you’re right.” Evelynn reaches out to pat her on the head. “I’d hate to have to run this band by myself <em>and</em> be forced to explain your mysterious death foxy. There would be, if you’ll pardon my pun, an <em>unholy</em> amount of paperwork.”</p>
<p>Ahri snorts in amusement and drains the last of her tea.<br/>“Never change Eve.”<br/>“I change all the time.” Evelynn replies, getting up to take her leave. “I have a reputation to uphold however.”</p>
<p>The demon’s hand is on the door when Ahri thinks to ask a simple question.<br/>“How will you be okay leaving Akali?”<br/>The smile she gets is at once wicked like a torturer and haunted like a guilty monster.<br/>“I’m a demon darling, I have no soul.”<br/>With that, she takes her leave to pack her luggage and Akali’s, leaving Ahri to ruminate on that thought.</p>
<p>By the time Ahri has gotten herself presentable enough to give her friends a proper goodbye, Evelynn is getting impatient and Akali is anxious to head out to the studio to get to work on the music video, so Ahri assures them both that she’ll be okay, sees them off with a smile and a wave, then picks up her laptop and stares blankly at a page.</p>
<p>It shouldn’t be this hard for her to write a song, she thinks, but the earth-shattering success of Pop/Stars is putting on her the kind of pressure she’s not felt in a very long time, and while in the early days she’d been new, she’d had enough drive to power through the gaps and staff to help the rough patches.</p>
<p>Now, the onus is all on her, and the only thought in her head is how half of her soul is fluttering ragged and worn over a Kai’sa-shaped abyss in her life.</p>
<p>When the video-call rings, she nearly breaks the answer button with the promise of seeing Kai’sa’s face.</p>
<p>“Hey Ahri!” Comes the bright voice from the speakers, accompanied by the face that Ahri sees imprinted on her eyelids every time she closes her eyes.<br/>“Hey yourself.” She replies, the presence of Kai’sa, however artificial, easing the brutal bitter ache in her soul for a moment.<br/>“Everything okay?” Kai’sa asks and Ahri curses internally, because of course she noticed, Kai’sa knows her like the back of her own hand, their souls are crafted for each-other, how could she not.<br/>“I…” Ahri considers lying, a little white lie to not budain her love with her problems. But that’s not healthy for either of them, so she forces a little steel into her spine and tells the truth.</p>
<p>“I’m having a little trouble.”<br/>“What’s wrong?” Kai’sa asks, immediately. “Do you need me to come home?! I can be there in a few hours if you do.”<br/>(Ahri wants, more than anything else in the world, to scream yes, bring Kai’sa back to her and heal the gaping hole in her heart and feel complete again. But she needs to think rationally, her soulmate needs this trip, she was desperately looking forward to it for months. The least Ahri can do is suffer through some mild discomfort.)</p>
<p>“I’ll be okay.” She says, trying to look convincing even as her voice wavers and her eyes sparkle with unshed tears. “I promise you I will.”<br/>“Are you sure?” Kai’sa hums, unconvinced. “What’s the problem?”<br/>“Gumiho are more magically sensitive than humans.” Ahri explains, hugging a tail to herself for comfort. “I can feel your absence, and my magic wants you back.”<br/>“That explains the more… natural appearance.” Kai’sa notes and Ahri laughs a bit.<br/>“Actually that’s just a result of the solution, I had to place blocks on my magic, like we normally do with destructive children. I can’t shapeshift, but I also can’t tear my own heart out in despair.”<br/>“I hope you’re being metaphorical.” Kai’sa says, sternly, and Ahri can’t quite meet her gaze.<br/>“Well…”<br/>“<em>Ahri.</em>” Kai’sa’s tone leaves no room for argument. “<em>Do I need to come home.</em>”</p>
<p>“I waited two <em>thousand</em> years for you!” Ahri hisses in defiance, more so at the universe in general than Kai’sa in particular. “I can manage a few months.” She takes a breath and sniffles slightly. “I’m sorry Kai-kai. I just really want you to enjoy your trip, I know you’re happy to be home in South Africa.”<br/>“Home is where you are.” Kai’sa states, symbiote crawling up over her neck as a reflex to emotional turmoil.<br/>“I love you.” Ahri says, blowing a kiss at the camera, goofy grin covering her face when Kai’sa mimes catching it and holds it to her heart. “Do what you need. I’ll be here when you’re ready to come back to me.”</p>
<p>Kai’sa turns to a journal and consults a few open pages.<br/>“Two weeks.” She turns a very serious gaze on Ahri. “I will go exploring for two weeks. Then I come home to you.”<br/>“You can’t possibly fit everything you wanted to do into two weeks!” Ahri protests, but Kai’sa is iron-clad in her conviction.<br/>“What I want is you.”<br/>“Two weeks.” Ahri nods, simultaneously defeated and possibly the most relieved she’s ever been.<br/>“We talk every day.” Kai’sa orders, already jotting down her new daily schedule in what Ahri assumes is exquisite detail.<br/>“Every day.” Ahri repeats.<br/>“And don’t you <em>dare</em> feel guilty over this!” Kai’sa orders. Ahri gives a self deprecating laugh.<br/>“I’ll do my best, my love. I promise.”<br/>“Good girl.” Kai’sa says and Ahri melts just a little bit. Then melts a whole more when Kai’sa blows a kiss at the camera and they mirror their motions from earlier, with Ahri miming catching it and holding the invisible sign of affection to her heart.<br/>“I love you Kai-kai.” She whispers softly, hugging her chosen tail to her a little tighter.<br/>“I love you too Ahri.” Her soulmate whispers back, before her phone bleeps. “I need to go get started, lots to do squeezing two months into two weeks. I’ll see you soon my love.”</p>
<p>With a final blown kiss the call disconnects.</p>
<p>Ahri catches the blown kiss anyway, not caring that Kai’sa can’t see her, holding it over her heart as her restrained magic cries and screams and begs for her soul to be whole again and she curses the universe to it’s blackest depths for doing this to her.<br/>(Soulmates aren’t always good, Ahri figured this out a long time ago, but the picture of Kai’sa smiling up at her from her lock screen reminds her that the benefits outweigh the cons, so long as she’s patient; and patience is a virtue she mastered millenia ago.)</p>
<p>It takes Ahri two nights wrapped in Kai’sa’s pajamas like a warding cloak to write the lyrics to ‘I’ll Show You.’ Scribbling them frantically down in her sacrosanct lyrics notebook and then slamming it shut the second she’s done and locking those feelings away for another twelve hellish nights and mornings that feel like her soul is being torn apart by bloody rending claws.</p>
<p>When Kai’sa opens the door on her eleventh night of misery with a smile on her face, Ahri launches herself at her like a furry cannonball.<br/>“I-love-you-I-love-you-I-love-you-I-love-you.” She whispers in a frantic litany of affection into Kai’sa’s neck as the blocks over her magic are released and her soul swells with the feeling of completeness.</p>
<p>Kai’sa gasps as the overspill of magic laps against her void-augmented senses, feeling the crushing depths of Ahri’s despair contrasting the euphoric high of her current state, tears rolling down both of their cheeks.<br/>“I’m never leaving you ever again.” She vows, almost crushing Ahri in her returning embrace. “Not as long as we both shall live.”<br/>“It’s a good thing gumiho mates are granted just as long lives.” Ahri sniffles into her neck and Kai’sa feels more tears roll heedlessly down her cheeks at the thought of her soulmate, alone and screaming into the void in singular misery.<br/>“Good thing indeed.” She whimpers, holding Ahri as close as she can.</p>
<p>They stay in the doorway for a very long time, only leaving it to make their way carefully to bed, Kai’sa’s luggage still parked next to the door.</p>
<p>The next three weeks are an exercise in separation anxiety. They don’t even leave their bed for two days, so wrapped up in needing each-other that the only thing to eventually rouse them from their comfortable fluffy embrace was the call of ravenous hunger.</p>
<p>Ahri stays wrapped around Kai’sa as she makes a simple tomato soup, not that she minds, even as they very carefully eat while cuddling up to each-other on the settee and watching re-runs of ‘My Soulmate is a Gumiho’ and giggling themselves silly at the plotlines.</p>
<p>Ahri helps Kai’sa to write ‘Drum Go Dum’, immersing themselves in weeks of careful work and a fair amount of video classes from various schools Kai’sa had been planning to visit.<br/>(Ahri doesn't mention ‘I’ll Show You’, locked away in her notebook, for quite a while.)</p>
<p>By the time Akali is returning it’s been about a month since Kai’sa’s frantic dash back to Ahri’s side, and her return brings a much needed injection of normalcy back to the K/DA house. With Akali’s song on the album already being complete and Yasuo hard at work finalising the release version of ‘Giants’, Ahri decides it’s time to see if ‘I’ll Show You’ holds up. So she digs her notebook out and watches with baited breath as Akali and Kai’sa huddle together to read over the scribbled lyrics and notes until Kai’sa very slowly makes her way over and soundlessly gathers Ahri into her lap for comfort.</p>
<p>“This is some heavy shit dude.” Akali summarises.</p>
<p>Together they work out a theme, one that focuses on the true emotional power of the words but leaves half of the story in far sharper relief than the other. It’s barely a day’s work, surprisingly, as Akali points out that the raw impact would be ruined with too much polish.<br/>“LIke that 80’s rock shit Eve always has on in the car.” She says, checking over her shoulder for signs of her soulmate’s sudden materialisation. “Gotta leave it rough and raw.”<br/>“Agreed.” Kai’sa says, arms around Ahri’s waist and chin resting between her ears. “It’s a powerful message.”</p>
<p>When Evelynn returns from her ‘trip’ two days later with ‘Villain’ already in an unsurprisingly highly polished state awaiting only band approval, they decide it’s studio time.</p>
<p>The studio is rough for Ahri, channelling her every remembered emotion into the words on the paper was always going to be hard, knowing Kai’sa is on the other side of the glass makes it even harder, but she manages, turning out the kind of raw emotional and fulfilling performance that contributed to her first meteoric rise through the scene. She may have magical charisma to help, but the talent has never been lacking, and she’s happy to have proven that.</p>
<p>The video is a different kind of awkward, the sets are really well done, and the direction Ahri receives is stellar, the emotional thrust of the video perfectly fits the tone she’s going for in the lyrics, well enough that Kai’sa is concerned she’s not been told everything; and Ahri spends several nights curled up in bed getting all her deepest fears off her chest, Kai’sa stroking her ears just the way she likes and whispering sweet nothings in that accent Ahri finds so hypnotic and alluring until finally she feels freer and more in control of her life than she ever has before, her soulmate by her side, making solid headway into her insecurities, and with a roaringly supporting fanbase backing her group every step of the way.</p>
<p>All Out is of course a monstrous success, and when the tour rolls around, K/DA have never felt more ready.</p>
<p>Of course, by the time they’re at the eighth or ninth stop of the tour, Ahri and the girls are feeling the novelty start to wear a bit.</p>
<p>It’s not like performing on stage is exactly a hardship for them, with Ahri and Evelynn gorging themselves on the emotions of the crowd and the quality of their shows in general, but as they walk off the stage after concert number nine, towards a seemingly unending line of back-stage pass fans Ahri goes into auto-pilot, signing cards robotically while she concocts her plan and thinks about the best time and place to execute it; afterall it would be bad manners to interrupt any of their group days out, or to skimp on that pre-announced and scheduled time together on VLive with their fans. So that leaves her with precious few options.</p>
<p>As it is, even after three solid hours of thought, Ahri still has precious few ideas. So that night, as Kai’sa lies asleep next to her, head resting on the gumiho’s hip, Ahri stares unblinking at their website as the pre-orders for their next concert go live.</p>
<p>As the day approaches, Ahri conscripts a few more people to make sure her plan goes off smoothly, a few stage-hands, their social media manager, Evelynn and Akali, and finally, though somewhat less openly, their fans themselves.</p>
<p>The concert is as exceptional as she could hope, every hour of grueling practice pays off, the group are in sync, their voices strident and commanding, and Ahri couldn't be more proud of her girls, the entire crew, and even herself, especially when she gets up to the front of the stage, drinking in the adoration of thousands, and delightfully puts Kai’sa completely on the spot with a freestyle dance demonstration that her soulmate has no idea is coming.</p>
<p>With that done and Akali laying down a rather fantastic beat, Evelynn keeping the crowd utterly engaged, Ahri steps backstage, de-mics, and hurries along to finish setting up the planned surprise.</p>
<p>She’s <em>almost</em> done when Kai’sa’s voice rings across the cozy backstage signing area like a whistling hammer-blow.<br/>“<em>Ahri! Where the hell are you!</em>”<br/>“In here my love~!” She calls, hurriedly lighting a pair of candles as the rapid-fire gunshots of Kai’sa’s feet on metal walkways reaches her sensitive ears.</p>
<p>She’s <em>just</em> setting the plates right when a thumb and forefinger grab her left fox ear in a vice-like grip.<br/>“Oww~ ow-ow-ow-ow-oww~” She yelps as Kai’sa places her mouth directly next to the captured ear and says, very deliberately.<br/>“You had better have a very, <em>very</em>, good reason for doing that to me. <em>My love</em>.”</p>
<p>“I doo~” Ahri whines, her attempts to stand on her tip-toes to lessen the pressure on her ear mitigated by the fact that she’s wearing heels so she’s already doing that.<br/>“I’m waiting.” Kai’sa says, tapping her foot impatiently while looking directly into Ahri’s terrified eyes.<br/>“I-wanted-to-take-you-on-a-date-so-I-bought-out-all-our-backstage-passes-and-set-up-a-nice-dinner-I’m-sorry-I-love-you.” Ahri yelps, before sighing in relief as Kai’sa releases her ear and promptly embraces her instead.</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you just say something.” She murmurs, reaching up to sooth Ahri’s poor abused ear.<br/>“I wanted to surprise you with a nice gesture.” Ahri mewls, nuzzling into the soothing touch on her poor abused extremity.<br/>“Consider me thoroughly surprised, my sweet.” Kai’sa says, kissing Ahri solidly before backing away and glancing sheepishly at her ear. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”<br/>“It’s okay~” Ahri purrs, nuzzling back into Kai’sa’s neck for more kisses.<br/>“Next time just say you’re planning something so you don’t need to distract me.” The taller woman mutters.</p>
<p>“I will, no more ear abuse.” Ahri murmurs and Kai’sa presses a kiss to said ear immediately, giggling as it flicks at her gentle touch.<br/>“Better?”<br/>“Much.” Ahri confirms, pressing more kisses into her neck before guiding Kai’sa to her chair.<br/>“I hope this didn’t cost too much.” The dancer mutters, taking in how empty the expansive area usually reserved for fan meet &amp; greets is.<br/>“Nothing I can’t cover the cost of.” Ahri dodges the question smoothly and Kai’sa narrows her eyes.<br/>“Ahri…”<br/>“Trust me you’re better off not knowing.” The gumiho says, pressing a kiss to the top of her soulmate’s head before crossing to her own seat.</p>
<p>“I hope you like the food.” She says, jumping on the chance to change the subject as Kai’sa lifts up the cover on her plate to find her favourite meal.<br/>“I love it already.” Kai’sa promises, digging into the tortellini with relish. “Did you order these from that restaurant we ate at the other day?”<br/>“I remembered you saying it reminded you of a restaurant back home.” Ahri says with a warm smile. “I thought you’d enjoy it again.”</p>
<p>“You are the most thoughtful little foxy I could ever have dreamt to have as my soulmate.” Kai’sa states without hesitation and Ahri blushes even as she delivers her reply with a cheeky grin.<br/>“You did dream of having me as your soulmate though didn’t you.”<br/>“I did yes.” Kai’sa admits, even as she enjoys her food. “I dreamt of travelling the world with you, seeing everything I could ever want, exploring all the arts, with you by my side.”</p>
<p>“We’ll do that after this album then.” Ahri decides. “Just you and me, let the others do their own thing. We can travel for a bit.”<br/>“Home is where the heart is,” Kai’sa says with a smile; “and right now my heart is across the table.”<br/>“That was so corny.” Ahri giggles and Kai’sa laughs with her.<br/>“I guess it was yeah. Was I wrong though?”<br/>“No.” Ahri smiles. “No you were not.”</p>
<p>Later, as they disconnect from a video-call to her parents inviting them back to the community to visit when the tour is over, Ahri looks at the woman laying next to her, silken hair cascading over the pillow and mixing with her own, brilliantly vibrant, void-touched eyes gazing up at her with unending affection, and can’t think of any other way she’d have liked her life to have gone up until this point.<br/>“It was worth it you know.” She murmurs in Kai’sa’s ear as she snuggles down to sleep, burying her face in the gap between her bokkie’s neck and the pillow. “Every second of every day of every year of every millenia was worth it for getting me to you.”<br/>“Now who’s being corny.” Kai’sa asks, smiling into the crown of Ahri’s head as she presses a good night kiss to each ear.<br/>“I’m not wrong though.” Ahri mumbles as she drifts off.<br/>“I’m glad.” Kai’sa replies sleepily. “I’m very glad.”</p>
<p>When Ahri was little, her parents told her she’d be travelling the world to find her soulmate. When they couldn’t have known was that they would travel just as much of the world together.</p>
<p>“Love you my Kai-kai.” She mumbles in her drowsy state.<br/>“Love you too my fox.” Comes the sleepy reply.</p>
<p>Ahri smiles.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you all enjoyed. I look forward to hearing what you may think.</p>
<p>https://twitter.com/AnarchyInPlasma for snippets of WIPs :D</p>
<p>I hope to see any of you. It means the world to me that people take the time to read and give me feedback.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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